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Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Blaming the Messenger for Outing Bigoted Speech

After cop-hating lynch mobs got what they were chanting for – the execution of two New York police officers – there was widespread disgust and anger among decent, sane Americans. Among others, there was indifference, amusement, and even celebration.

Brandeis University student Khadijah Lynch, for example, an undergraduate representative for the Department of African and Afro-American Studies, took to Twitter to express that she found the murders of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos, a Latino father of two, and Wenjian Liu, an Asian-American newlywed, to be hilarious: “lmao, all i just really dont have sympathy for the cops who were shot. i hate this racist f**king country,” read the junior’s illiterate tweet.

“i have no sympathy for the nypd officers who were murdered today”
“what the f**k even IS ‘non-violence’”
“ya’ll out here waiting for a white messiah, im waiting for Malcolm X to return.”
“the fact that black people have not burned this country down is beyond me”
“I am in riot mode. F**k this f**king country”
“I need to get my gun license. asap.”

. . .

Suddenly regarding themselves as First Amendment champions, some Brandeis students leapt to Lynch’s defense. As reported by the Daily Caller, senior Michael Piccione, a member of the student conduct board, was upset that a conservative website had called her out for the tweets. He sent an email to the Brandeis President, administrators, faculty, and students entitled “VERY IMPORTANT: Holding Daniel Mael accountable, and other threats to student safety!” In it he declared that Mael had “potentially violated multiple parts” of a Brandeis code of student conduct including “stalking,” and complained that Mael had “exposed Khadijah” to what Piccione falsely characterized as TruthRevolt’s “largely white supremacist following.” So he condemns supremacism unless it’s black, and libel unless it’s against conservatives.

. . .

The Brandeis Asian American Student Association proclaimed “sympathy” and a “readiness to stand by” Lynch as well, even though one of the slain NYPD officers was Asian-American. On Facebook, the student group claimed that Lynch “has been wrongfully targeted and harassed.” “We recognize your right to speak freely” they declared, although no one was denying her that.

A Change.org petition adorned with black power fists and black liberation colors was created to “stand with Khadijah.” It charges, with inexplicable capitalization, that Mael’s article was “Libel,” “Defamation of Character,” and “Cyber bullying.” It has 1,220 signatures as of this writing, a week after posting.

Welcome to academia, where inflammatory and intolerant speech is not to be called out, or reported.

Of course, Brandeis did nothing to punish Mael. Nor did it punish Lynch, whose comments were bigoted and inflammatory, but within her rights to express. Free expression, in this case, wins at Brandeis.

The only freedom these liberals love is the freedom to affirm liberal ideas. This graduate student/teacher's education has been a total failure in that it has armed her with arguments to defend what she already believed rather than giving her good reasons to consider the view that she didn't believe. Universities are liberal reeducation camps now as the MaverickPhilosopher blog has been saying for years.

The only freedom these liberals love is the freedom to affirm liberal ideas. This graduate student/teacher's education has been a total failure in that it has armed her with arguments to defend what she already believed rather than giving her good reasons to consider the view that she didn't believe. Universities are liberal reeducation camps now as the MaverickPhilosopher blog has been saying for years.

1. The student expressed herself publicly and intemperately on social media. That didn't happen at Marquette - the mechanism at MU was a stealth recording, which was then selectively leaked.2. After the tweet became public, the Chair of the African and Afro-American Studies Department issued a statement which reads in part: "The comments of Ms. Lynch, made through her own personal Twitter account, do not reflect the views of AAAS as a department. AAAS, unequivocally, does not promote nor condones a disregard for the loss of human life. The deaths of officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu are a tragedy and should be treated with proper respect. We express our most sincere condolences to their family and loved ones.Ms. Lynch has offered her resignation as an Undergraduate Degree Representative for AAAS, which I have accepted."

So no, Prof. Adams, the two situations are not alike. I most certainly do not see temperate and professional behavior by a concerned Marquette faculty member, i.e., yourself. On the other hand, the statement of the Brandeis faculty member looks to be a product of discernment, an Ignatian virtue which your blog could use more of.

How uplifting to find the Ignatian virtue of discernment touted in such vibrant unity with the virtue of charity. One wonders, incidentially, what Ignatius might think of the state of his religious order and its "spirituality" today.

Yes.

The incident at Brandeis certainly is reminiscent of the one at Marquette. An injustice can made known by means of a student's (legal) recording of a personal conversation , or, via Twitter. The issue is how the injustice is handled. At Brandeis, responsibility was taken for the problem. At Marquette, not only was responsibility not taken, the problem was not even recognized. Justice is to give what is due. University students are due freedom of speech and thought, and thus censorship ought to be avoided and shunned. The TA (I was one in the Marquette Philosophy Dept years ago) apparently didn't think she owed a duty to philosophy. Rather, the "values" at Marquette seemingly promote the dutiful dissemination of fashionable ideologies. Brandeis, at least, had the decency to recognize injustice. Marquette not only failed to recognize the injustice of censorship in the classroom, it has perpetuated an injustice against the person rightly concerned by pedagogical vice. More pertinent than Ignatian "spirituality," is a well known remark of Aristotle. He disagreed with his teacher, Plato. Did he, out of "respect for the opinions of others," and, an ethos of "inclusion," refrain from expressing his differences? Was his first concern that he might "offend" the chance crypto-platonist by rejecting Plato's opinions? No. What he essentially said was, "While we love our friends, we love the truth more."